Evaluation of in vivo toxicity studies

NOTE! The SciRAP tool was updated on January 28, 2018. Updates included changing how the scores for reporting quality and methodological quality are calculated. Scores calculated with the tool before and after this date are not comparable. If you have any questions please contact us at anna.beronius@ki.se.

The web-based evaluation tool is available by scrolling down this page.

Reliability and relevance are equally important in the assessment of chemicals, therefore the evaluation of whether a study is adequate for risk assessment should be based on a combination of the two.

Instructions for evaluating reliability and relevance of in vivo studies are available for download here or in the menu to the right.

Reliability evaluation

The SciRAP method for evaluating reliability of in vivo toxicity studies consists of criteria for for evaluating both thereporting quality and methodological quality of studies, separately. You can switch between evaluation of reporting and methodological quality by selecting the tabs below.

Relevance evaluation

Whether or not a study is relevant depends on the context within which it is to be used as evidence. The aim of the SciRAP method is to provide guidance and a structured approach for determining the relevance of in vivo toxicity studies for human health risk assessment. To that end, five study aspects should be evaluated under the tab relevance. It is important to note that all listed items do not have to be relevant for the study to serve as evidence in risk assessment.

When you have completed your evaluation, click the green "export to excel" button at the bottom right to generate and download a summary of your evaluation.

Please consult the instructions for how to interpret the results of the evaluation! Especially note that the scores calculated by the tool are only comparable between evaluations where the same criteria have been removed or given increased weight.

Note: You have to scroll down to see all the criteria under each tab. ​This is an open access web-tool and your selections for the criteria will be saved on this computer/device until you press "reset form" to the right.